Eye of the Storm
by Lally Winchester
Summary: Rini has no one left to turn to, nowhere to run; no shelter from the storm. One-Shot AU, May be OOC. Character death and mature themes. (Drawing in icon not mine; source deviant art More Teen Rini by kitsunegirl21809)


**Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters **

Rini stared out at the vast blue water, watching as tiny waves lapped against the shoreline. Her face betrayed no emotion, except for the few silent tears steadily streaming down her cheeks, hitting the wood beneath her with a soft "Plip, plip". This was the longest pier in the entire town of Blue Moon City, so called because of the town founder Orwell Moony, who had been a fairly talented blues singer. It was a small town, secluded from the rest of society by a dense forest that surrounded the area. It was a quiet place, which was why Rini loved it so much. This was her sanctuary, the place where she could escape from her troubled life back home in the city, where people were cruel and no one seemed to care.

Rini pulled her legs tight against her chest as the tears came faster now, dropping her head between her knees. Back home, she didn't have any friends; nobody wanted to hangout with the quiet girl whose father had left when she was thirteen years old, and whose mother was well known for her promiscuous behaviour. Everyday she'd walk the hallways at school and feel the eyes of every student burning a hole in the back of her head. She could hear the whispers in the lunchroom, always just loud enough to reach her lonely table in the corner of the room where no one else dare sit. She was called a "freak", an "emo", even a "slut", though she couldn't understand why since she'd never had a boyfriend and all the guys she knew weren't into her type: Pale skin, weird coloured eyes from some birth defect she had, and long brown hair that always hung in her face. Last year, she had dyed it pink in an attempt to stand out a little bit, but the backlash had been horrible. The teasing only intensified, and people mocked the way her hair now matched her eyes. She kept dying it because she'd grown accustomed to the colour and tuning everyone out, but it still stung. She was tall for a girl, standing at a whopping 5'10", but she wasn't as slim as the other girls and always felt like a huge loser when she was standing next to them. Her mother had told her once, during one of their "loud discussions", that if Rini would only try a little harder, maybe the boys at school would pay a little bit of attention to her. She'd snorted, thinking that her mother would know a thing or two about attention seeking, but she had bit her tongue so that the words wouldn't pass her lips. After all, her mother was the only person she had left and she didn't want to risk getting kicked out over a stupid little comment.

She hadn't heard from her dad in four years since he'd left, except for the odd alimony check here and there; he didn't even send cards on her birthdays. Holidays were always the worst in her house, when her mother's drinking would increase and the father bashing began. She knew she didn't have the world's greatest father or anything, but she did have some good memories with Darian. At least, she hoped that they were memories and not just figments of her imagination.

Rini lifted her head up, once again staring out at the lake before her. She had taken a drive up to her mom's cabin the night before, the one her grandparents had left them in their will, after getting into a particularly bad fight with Serena, who had stayed over at her current boyfriend's house for over four days without bothering to call. This morning she'd woken up and had decided to take a walk to clear her head. It had been a few hours since then and, looking up, she could tell that a storm was coming in.

She let out a sigh, and laughed bitterly. "Let it rain," she thought; "Nothing could make my life any worse". She briefly mused over the possibility that she could catch pneumonia and die, leaving a very distraught mother behind. "I wonder if my dad would come to the funeral…" she voiced out loud, shattering the silence that had fallen over the land since she'd arrived at the pier. Her eyes slowly turned downward and she once again stared out at the water. This time, however, she was not doing so vacantly; the cogs of her brain were turning at full speed as she formulated a plan. You see, Rini did not know how to swim, for no one had ever taken the time to teach her how.

She stood up on shaky legs, and looked around to see if anyone was watching. Slowly, she pulled off her top and dropped her jeans, kicking off her sandals in the process. The wind picked up just then, as stormy grey clouds swirled in the sky. The tiny waves from before became larger now, soaking the deck at Rini's feet and making her jump at the coldness she felt. She gently wrapped her arms around herself, attempting to calm the goose bumps that had appeared all over body. She closed her eyes and scolded herself, thinking that there was nothing to be afraid of: death is only one chapter; she just knew there was something else, something better, waiting for her on the other side.

She opened her eyes and gulped, trying to dislodge her rapidly beating heart from her throat. She took a few steps back, let out a shaky breath, took a running start and – SPLASH!

Rini's body sank deep into the black waters, a rush of bubbles surrounding her body as instinct kicked in and she started to flail. Her mouth opened and water rushed in, filling her lungs which gasped for air. Her legs kicked desperately as her arms reached out toward the surface of the water. Mind you, this was all purely instinctual, for Rini's mind had already made peace with the fact that this was the end. She was deep into the forest, and no one was around for miles. There would be no last minute rescue, no second chance. The truth was, she didn't want one. Rini couldn't think of a single reason for her to stay, to keep fighting for a life she obviously wasn't cut out for.

Slowly, she stopped struggling and let the freezing waters over take her, turning her body numb. She let out one last gasp of air, bubbles making their way upwards from her mouth. She let her eyelids fall shut as she fell backwards lifelessly, into the deep void below.


End file.
